Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I would have loved to have found a longer and more comprehensive professional driver training course for my daughter, but I couldn't.
Of course, as you've been saying in your columns, that is why parents must take charge of training their teenage drivers.
In searching for driving schools, I did come across a couple of items that can help parents with the training they need to do.
One is a manual from the Virginia Department of Education. It is called the "40-Hour Parent/Teen Driving Guide." It was very helpful in establishing what you need to cover in your lessons. It can be downloaded from the Web at www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Parents/index.html. Under the "Other Resources" category, click on "40-Hour Parent/Teen Driving Guide" and print.
A second helpful publication is "Safe Young Drivers: A Guide for Parents and Teens" by Phil Berardelli.
That book has training guides and sections for parents as well as teenagers to read. It is available at www.amazon.com and www.SafeYoungDrivers.com.
Both of those publications were extremely helpful when we were training our daughter because, although I'm a good driver with no tickets or accidents in more than 20 years, I sometimes couldn't find the adequate words to teach someone else to drive. Sometimes even good habits become second nature and are difficult to describe.
Rae Kobren
Fairfax Station
Thanks for the tips.
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
Our oldest son was in the process of getting his driver's license eight years ago. After reading your recommendation about Car Guys, I signed him up.
Yes, it was inconvenient: A parent has to be on the premises if the child is under 18. But I thought my son's life was well worth my time and the $250 cost (at the time).
I can't say enough good about that organization. I have recommended it to friends. Car Guys teaches decisive driving, classroom and street driving and how to handle a skidding car.
